


Two Brave Hearts

by ChillyHollow



Category: Cormoran Strike Series - Robert Galbraith
Genre: Alternate Universe - Fantasy, Fairy Tale Retellings, Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-06
Updated: 2020-09-06
Packaged: 2021-03-06 14:26:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,124
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26320369
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ChillyHollow/pseuds/ChillyHollow
Summary: When Flanker27_UK answered a fairy tale writing challenge with his story Robin Hood, I got inspired.  Beauty and the Beast isn’t my favorite fairy tale, but it is the one I was able to squish nicely together with Robert Galbraith’s world.
Relationships: Robin Ellacott/Cormoran Strike
Comments: 5
Kudos: 10





	Two Brave Hearts

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Flanker27_UK](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Flanker27_UK/gifts).



Beauty had strawberry-blonde hair, creamy skin, long legs and a lush figure. 

Beast was tall and broad and had unruly hair, a broken nose, and Beast limped. 

Beauty’s handsome beau warned her to keep away from the Beast’s lair but Beauty had one flaw—she was curious.Beauty was also brave.So one day she took the train to the old part of town where the Beast was said to be holed up.She found the Beast’s rumored address, a simple discreet black door next to a music club.The building was old, but they all were in this part of town.Nothing to see here.There were no snarling monsters, no Keep Out signs, no one appeared to be paying any attention to the door.Beauty walked past it a couple of times, then got herself a coffee at a little shop and sat on a bench as she drank it, just keeping an eye on that door.

As she drank her coffee, her attention wandered to her phone.Beau had sent her a text message, telling her he’d be home in two hours.She only had a little time before she’d have to leave to get back before he did, given rush hour traffic.She didn’t want Beau to worry about what she’d been up to.Easier to just go behind his back.About to put her phone back in her pocket, she nearly missed the fact that someone was exiting the door she was watching.

Her phone in hand, she took a fast photo while pretending not to.Then her jaw dropped and she stared.This was no Beast.This was a fairy tale princess!The woman who had left the building was absolutely gorgeous.Beauty was generally considered quite pretty but this woman was beautiful with a capital B.She had wavy black hair and emerald eyes in a Greek statue’s face.She was as tall as Beauty but her figure was model slim, her legs impossibly long, her clothing both expensive and Just Right. Beauty felt like a donkey next to this woman.The woman looked angry, though.Beauty found that a bit jarring.Surely anyone fleeing the Beast’s lair should be afraid, not mad as fire?

Beauty watched the fairy tale princess hurry down the street and disappear toward the train station.Then she made up her mind.Beauty crossed the street, opened the discreet door and stepped inside. 

It was rather disappointing.The building was old and a bit shabby.There were mail slots on the wall but none had names, just floor numbers.There was a Help Wanted sign stuck to the wall with Sellotape.Beauty hurried up the stairs.The first floor had a graphic design studio.No Beast there, that’s for sure. 

Beauty went up the next flight.The sign on the door in front of her on this landing was for a Private Investigator named C.B. Strike.Robin frowned at it.There were two more doors, one to a tiny bathroom and one that was locked that led to a space that felt empty.She looked back at the door to Strike’s office and stepped toward it, intending to ask for directions.The door flew open just before her hand reached it and a bear of a man barreled into her.Beauty shrieked as she was knocked back by his bulk and she lost her footing.She began to tumble down the stairs backwards.The big man grabbed her and hauled her back onto solid ground.Unfortunately, to do so he had to pull her into him.Beauty found herself in the arms of a stranger, her hands on his broad and solid chest, her lips nearly touching his, her full breasts mashed against his in a parody of passion.He looked at her in alarm and jumped back, letting go of her.

“Sorry,” he growled.“Didn’t expect anyone to be there.”

“Sorry!”Beauty said and then she said, “What happened?” because the big man had blood on his face.It looked like he’d been scratched.Beauty’s imagination saw the fairy tale princess, her beautiful manicured nails turned into harpy talons.What had that witch done?

The big man dabbed at his face and sighed.“Come in.I just need to clean up a bit.Sit down and I’ll be right back.”He waved her into his lair, ah, office, and headed into the small bathroom.Beauty took the opportunity to look around the room.It was just an office.There was no Beast there.However, there was a secretarial desk and chair, filing cabinets, a desktop computer and a leather-looking sofa.There was a small kitchen area, a coat rack and another door, open to show a second office with a bare desk, a chair and more filing cabinets.It was depressingly ordinary.

The big man returned, wiping his wet hands on his pants.“How can I help you?”he asked. 

Beauty gulped, then used the backup excuse she’d formulated when she’d seen the sign.“I came in response to the Help Wanted sign but if I’ve come at a bad time, I can make an appointment.I assume the sign was for this office?”

“What’s your name?”Beauty gave it to him, along with her phone number and address.The big man told her his name, Cormoran Strike.There was something in his eyes that was both intelligent and sad.Of course Beauty did need a job, and she thought working for a private detective might be more interesting than the normal clerical jobs she had applied for but not gotten.Jobs were hard to find here in London right now.

“OK, you are hired for next week.We’ll see how it goes and if it works out for us both, we’ll talk about making it permanent.”  
  
“Thanks, Mr. Strike,” Beauty said.“Call me Cormoran,” he said.

“Everyone calls me Beauty,” she told him.He nodded, without saying anything, not even adding the cliched compliments that everyone normally tossed in when she told them her nickname.Her opinion of him went up.

“What time do I need to be here Monday?” she asked.He told her nine.She nodded and smiled and headed back down the stairs, leaving the big man to wonder just how crazy he was to hire a woman without knowing anything about her beyond her name and address.“Beauty is appropriate, though,” thought the Beast to himself.

Beauty danced down the stairs and up the sidewalk to the train station.She had a job starting Monday.She could figure out where the Beast actually was on this street if she worked there, right?Maybe Cormoran Strike knew.Once she got to know him, maybe she’d ask.


End file.
